What started this post was my search for a safe yet enticing gift for my 3-month old nephew - Soothing chomps for teething gums.

I thought it would be better to get a rattle that is also a teether... a 2-in-1 item because when he would outgrow one, it could still be relevant as the other. But not just any kind - it had to be an eco item. Well, of course!! Since aunty here is promoting the green lifestyle.. and this would be my chance to start the unsuspecting kid (and his parents) on the path to greater greenness.

Anyway, after sifting through a barrage of websites and comparing the price, ingredients and safety-ness of the various brands available, I settled on brightly colored rattle cum teether made from corn starch. The little guy seemed happy with the gift as he’s gleefully salivating all over the rattle. Meanwhile his parents are happy he’s got something safe to put into his mouth.

It suddenly occurred to me that the inclination to put things into our mouths doesn’t go away after the teething stage. (OK, if your mind wandered off to a lewd tangent, please rewind and come back to the age of innocence ya).

I was thinking of the lip balms, lip gloss, lip stick, lip pencils. What happens after their application? Where do they disappear to as we constantly re-apply? So from the brush onto our lips, and then ingested along with food or drinks that passes through our lips, down our throats, stomach and intestines. While we may not have swallowed them whole, surely after the thousands of applications, these subtle ingredients of oil, colour, wax and whatever else would end up stuck inside our body. Do these ingredients exit our bodies? If not, where do they end up? Well, certainly food for thought.

So while women at every age still wants to look good and we are equipped ever more with cosmetics of every kind, perhaps we should be also be aware of what goes into our make-up, cosmetics and beauty care regime. Believe you me, price is not an indication of the safety and quality of ingredients used as brands spent more on image and seductive ads.

Do we have to hit mid-life before getting on the health/safety wagon again? Why do we take advantage of the forgiving youthful physique till it could take no more?

We can pretend that all is hunky dorey and remain ignorant. But if something pops up in your body and you wonder “hmmmm, now how did that obnoxious lump get inside me?”, or worse still if you hear someone say “oh but she was so young”... we could then not play the fool and face the truth. How or when did we, the grown-ups, stop caring about the stuff we put into our mouths?Choose Green, Stay WellJoann